


Pizzastuck

by spelcheque



Category: Homestuck, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pizza Place, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-05
Updated: 2014-07-12
Packaged: 2018-02-07 14:24:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1902351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spelcheque/pseuds/spelcheque
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amidst relationship woes and emotional drama, John, Dave, Jean, and the rest of the Pizza Titan crew have to put their differences aside to work as a team and deliver the best pizza on the west coast.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. House Trapped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John gets ready for his first day of work at the new Pizza Titan down the street.

John stood in his bedroom. It was the 13th of April, which just so happened to be his birthday, but there were more pressing matters to attend to. It was also scheduled to be his first day working at the new Pizza Titan down the road, and he couldn't be late for his first day!

He had already slipped on his clothes; a plain white collared shirt, some freshly ironed khakis, and a pair of blue sneakers, and he was ready to go. John opened the door and stepped out of his room. He was greeted by the familiar sight of his father's colorful harlequin paintings hanging in front of the contrasting white wall. He lowered his head out of respect to the jesters and walked down the hallway as quickly as he could because man those clowns are creepy.

As he approached the stairs, he slowly snuck his head around the corner to check to see if his dad was awake yet or not, but before he saw anything he could already smell the scent of recently-baked yellow cake. His dad was awake and there was no way to avoid an encounter. He would have to be quick about it because any holdup and he could be late to work. They both knew it was his birthday, but the cake could wait until after he got home, and besides, his dad always ate the leftovers anyway.

John slowly crept downstairs and into the living room, and before he knew it he was up to his neck in presents that seemed to have dropped from the ceiling. Oh wait - they did. _You may have won this battle, old man_ , John thought, _but you haven't won the war._

Just as soon as he managed to crawl out of the pile of presents, his dad appeared before him, cake-wielding and apron-clad. He attempted to serve John a slice of the delicious dessert pastry, but John didn't have time to sit down for a traditional birthday breakfast this year. John snatched the piece of cake out of his father's hands, plate and utensils and all, and dashed out the doorway.

"Sorry dad don't have time to eat or I'll be late to work but I promise I'll be back home in time for dinner and thanks for the cake gotta go now love you bye!!!!!" He shouted back towards his dad as he chased after him down the street. As he finished, his father slowed down, and a single proud paternal tear made its way down his cheek.


	2. Delivery Boi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John is introduced to the Pizza Titan crew as they prepare to begin the day of work.

John frantically scarfed up the cake as he ran down the road to the Pizza Titan. It was a short walk, only about a mile, but it still took about twenty minutes. He arrived at the pizzeria at 7:43, two minutes early; just in time to see somebody unlocking the door. He looked to be about 20-some years old, he had spiky hair that had been dyed blond with a triangular pair of sunglasses resting atop his forehead, a white apron, and a small nameplate with the name “Dirk”, and the words “manager” inscribed below it.

“So you must be John,” he said, as he opened the door. “Dave’s told me a lot about you.”

Dave was one of John’s best friends. They had met online a few years ago, but Dave and his family relocated about a year ago to a neighborhood nearby to John, but that wasn’t before Dirk had gone off to college, but now he was the manager at the brand new Pizza Titan, and he had hired John on a recommendation from Dave after another staff member had left.

“Y-yes sir, Mr. Strider, sir.” John replied nervously.

Dirk glared at John for a few seconds, only to reply with a loud chuckle; “Just call me Dirk, kay little bro?”

“Okay, Mr. Dirk. I mean, just Dirk.”

Dirk held the door open for John, and gestured for him to follow as he proceeded into the “EMPLOYEES ONLY” room near the restrooms. It was really more of a hallway, with doors to the supply closet, the freezer, and the kitchen along its sides. Dirk led John down the hallway and into the supply closet, where he reached to the top of one of the shelves and took down an apron and tossed it to John.

“You’ll need to wear that every day for work, so don’t get any stains on it.” He joked. John slid it on over his head and secured it with the knots around the back. Unbeknownst to Dirk, he had been practicing tying his apron without help for days, along with other useless kitchen skills, which his father was happy to teach him. Dirk then led him out of the supply closet and into the kitchen, where he spotted another new face.

“That’s Karkat.” Said Dirk. “he’s a bit of a grump, but once you get to know him, he’s a lot more amiable than you’d get from a first impression.” The boy had light brown and freckled skin and curly hair which seemed to fly in every direction you could see. He was a bit shorter than John, and he had on a grey sweater with rolled up sleeves and a red visor with the Pizza Titan logo on the front.

“So this is John, huh?” Karkat inquired, in a voice that was just a bit louder than it needed to be.

“Yep, you wanna show him how to work the cash register?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Nope. He’s not that bad, don’t worry.”

“Fine…” Karkat grumbled jokingly, with an exaggerated eye roll. “Get over here, Johnny boy.”

Karkat showed John how to put in orders, ring people up, and take money out of the register without setting off the alarm. It was a little tough at first, mainly because Karkat kept getting frustrated at John, but he got the hang of it.

 

It was around 8:04 when they finished, and around when two girls walked in, wearing work uniforms. The first girl was tall, Asian, somewhat muscular, wore a pair of red tinted shades, and had medium length bluish-black hair. She wore a red polo and a pair of teal shorts, and her apron had a nameplate with “Terezi” and “head chef” on it.

The second girl walked in behind Terezi. She had on a black tank top with a green jacket over it, black shorts, and a blue cap that was otherwise identical to Karkat’s. She was shorter than the other girl, but she also looked more built. She also had longer hair than Terezi which was also a dark brown rather than black, and she had olive skin. Her name tag read “Nepeta: chef”.

“Sure smells good in here, Karkat, are we cooking already?” Terezi shouted.

“No, but you’re four minutes late. And we don’t open for another half hour, you should know that by now.” He retorted, blushing slightly.

“It must be this new kid then.” She said, as she motioned to John “I knew we were getting a replacement for Eridan but I had no idea he was going to be _cute_.” Terezi teased.

“Hey, I’m cute aren’t I?” Karkat asked, only half jokingly.

“Of course you are, Karkles.” Nepeta interjected, springing out from behind Terezi.

“Don’t call me that…” Said Karkat, blushing even brighter.

“Would you prefer that I call you something more endearing? Perhaps Karkitty? That always seems to get a rise out of you.” Nepeta said coyly. Karkat’s face turned bright red and he turned away from the girls.

“Don’t you have somewhere to be? Like starting up the ovens or something?” Karkat complained.

“What’s even going on right now?” Interrupted John.

“Shut up John.” Shouted Karkat.

“Don’t be mean Karkitty,” Nepeta purred. “he’s only trying to figure out what’s going on.”

“And you can’t really blame him either, I mean, you are a pretty confusing guy.” Terezi said with a large grin on her face.

“John, this is Terezi, and I’m Nepeta. Karkat likes to think that he’s in charge when Dirk isn’t here but he knows that he’s wrong. Us girls run the kitchen, we run the restaurant. now we’ve only got about twenty minutes until we open this place up, get to work Karkat!”

Just then, they all heard a loud booming sound as a black car pulled into the parking lot. It stayed still for a few seconds and then the doors both swung open at the same time. Out of the passenger’s side stepped a boy unmistakable to John. He, like his brother, had dyed-blond hair, which he wore swept to the side, and he sported a pair of ironic aviator shades. It was his best bro Dave, of course.

The other boy who stepped out of the car was about the same height as Dave, but he had shorter hair, which was ash-brown rather than blond, and he lacked a pair of sunglasses, and he had more of an elongated face than anyone else present. The two boys walked into the restaurant in unison, whilst donning their respective aprons. Terezi and Nepeta moved out of the way of the door to make way for the most recent arrivals.

“Ayyyyyyy.” Shouted Dave, as he burst through the door.

“Ayyyyyyy.” Replied John, with a fist bump, as this was their rehearsed greeting ritual. “Who’s this new guy?”

“My name’s Jean,” He said as he extended his palm for a handshake. “I live around here.”

“He drives me to work yo.” Dave explained. “My house is on his way.”

“You guys are late again. If we can’t get this place ready on time it’ll be your fault.” Grumbled Karkat.

“Lighten up dude, we’ve still got 15 minutes.” Dave retorted.

Dirk then rushed out from the back hall, telling everyone to ready the place for opening, at 8:30. Karkat and John cleaned off all of the tables, while Terezi and Nepeta got the ovens started, and Dave and Jean got stuff out of the freezer. When everything was prepared, they all gathered together and waited to turn on the open sign. Just then, John thought of something.

“Excuse me, uh, Dirk, what job am I going to be working?”

“You’ll get to work with Dave and Jean for the time being.” He replied.

Dave interrupted, “You get to be one of the delivery boiz.”


	3. Pizza Delivery for Marco Bodt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the aftermath of emotional turmoil, John and Jean deliver a pizza.

The Pizza Titan crew flipped on the open sign at 8:30, but business was always slow in the morning. Pizza wasn’t exactly morning food, but the policy was that they had to be open by 8:30 every day, and the staff didn’t mind too much, it gave them an opportunity to relax and socialize for a bit every morning before they had to get to work. Terezi and Nepeta were sitting at one of the tables near the front of the restaurant, sipping sodas and just chilling out.

“So, how about that new guy huh?” Nepeta asked her.

“Eh, he’s kinda cute I guess.” She said while shrugging. “I’ve seen better.”

“But he _works_ here, you should at least talk to him, he seems like he could be a nice guy.”

“Well, I dunno Nep, he’s not really my type.”

“Well then what is your type?”

“I guess, just, someone less plain. He’s kinda cute, but he’s just, simple.”

“Sighhhh, you’re never gonna find a perfect guy, so you might as well settle for someone cute, because even if they’re boring, they’ll still be fun to look at.” Nepeta said with a sly wink. As she said it, Dave walked by and Terezi caught his eye for a moment, blushed slightly, and her eyes darted towards the table.

“Maybe you’re right, maybe looking for the perfect guy _is_ pointless.”

Nepeta turned to look at Dave and Jean, “Of course I’m right, because there aren’t any out there!” She stuck her tongue out as she jeered. “Equius told me that guys are pointless and dumb, and he’s right.”

 _At least, most of them are_ , she thought to herself.

 

John, Jean, Dave, and Karkat were all sitting around a larger table near the back of the place. Dave was balancing his chair on it’s two back legs.

“So, let me tell you about this dude right here, John motherfuckin’ Egbert.” Dave pointed his thumb towards John, who was sitting beside him. “This kid and I have been friends for what, like, six years? See I met him through some internet friends, back when I still lived in Texas, right? And as soon as I meet him I can tell this kid’s a total loser. But a cool loser. It’s like, the levels of lame within this kid were so high that he couldn’t be tame-”

“Dave shut the hell up.”

“You shut up Karkat, and don’t you dare talk back, you impudent ball-sack, these rhymes are so un-whack that yours could never hack it, but what would you know, so why don’t you just pack it?” Dave finished by slamming his fist down. The rest of the table went up in cheers, Karkat even managed a small grin. Even he had to admit, while Dave’s freestyling could get somewhat annoying, it was pretty impressive.

“Anyway, as I was saying everybody, John Egbert is a cool guy, now get to know each other and shit.”

“Uh, yeah, I’m John,” he said, while raising his hand, “ask me questions I guess.”

“So John, what kinda movies you watch?” Karkat asked.

“Oh man, anything with Nic Cage in it, uh, Con Air has got to be my favorite movie of all time. Or maybe Ghostbusters. It’s a pretty tough choice.”

Karkat cringed. “How about anything a bit more serious? Like, Dear John, or The Notebook, or Gone With the Wind you know, real movies?”

“Dude those are total chick flicks, what are you talking about.”

“Those aren’t “chick flicks” they’re serious films involving emotional drama, thank you very much. And I’ll have you know, Nicolas Cage is by far the most idiotic excuse for a clown to ever call himself an actor.”

“Dude Nic Cage is the best-”

“He’s the worst, have you even _seen_ him doing what he passes off as acting or did you just get all of your opinions from the reject bin at the fact factory.”

“Guys, guys, both of you, shut up!” Interrupted Jean. “You’re both wrong. John, Nic Cage sucks, get over it. Karkat, those are most definitely chick flicks. Now both of you calm down.”

“Fine.” Karkat murmured, with a glint of anger in his eyes.

“John,” said Jean, before the situation could escalate any further, “is there anyone _special_ in your life?”

John gulped. He didn’t really like talking about the subject, but he figured there was really no way around it. “Well, I had a crush on one of my friends for a while, we met over the internet, but she was just really cool, but we met in real life and I ended up making a fool of myself and I found out later that she was a lesbian.”

Jean blushed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up a sensitive subject, I was just wondering…” He could tell that he had made John uncomfortable, even if he didn’t let on as much as some people would.

“It’s okay.” John replied, scratching the back of his head. There was a bit of an awkward silence, and Jean couldn’t scrape together enough courage to lift his eyes from the table, let alone apologize any further.

Before long, there was a ring on the phone. “Finally!” Terezi shouted. Dave jumped up to get the phone, forgetting that he was leaning back in his chair, and toppled onto the ground. Karkat ran to get the phone, and after a series of “Mhm,”’s and “Okay…”’s, he called out “Two large, one with the works, one just pepperoni, one coke, buffalo wings with ranch.” He scrawled down the address while Terezi and Nepeta got to work in the kitchen.

Fifteen minutes passed, and everything was almost ready to go. Jean was still sitting at the table, even though everyone else had left, and thinking about how he had hurt John. He hadn’t meant to bring up something John didn’t want to talk about, and it was obvious that he was more upset than he expressed. He seemed like a nice guy and he really didn’t want something like this to get in the way of them forming a friendship.

All of the sudden, Jean felt a hand on his back. He turned around to look and saw Karkat kneeling down, and then, in a hushed voice, he told Jean; “It’s his first day on the job dude, nothing’s gonna make him happier than getting to deliver a pizza, and if you asked him if he wanted to do it with you, I think it would more than make up for it.”

Jean grasped the back of the chair next to him, thanked Karkat, and stood up to look for John. He eventually found him hanging out in the back with Dave, but when Dave saw Jean, he nodded his head, greeted him, and left.

“So, uh, John, I was wondering, to make up for earlier, if you wanted to deliver this order with me?” Jean’s heart skipped a beat in his chest, and he started to wonder if this was a bad idea.

“Sure! That sounds great!” John replied with a smile. _Phew_ , Jean thought, _that could have ended much worse._

“I’ll even let you drive.” said Jean. He meant it earnestly, but he tried to cover it up with just enough sarcasm to prevent himself from sounding mushy.

“Sweet! I’ll go ask Dave where the keys are!” With that, John scampered off, and Jean let loose a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, John had received the food and the keys from Dave, and was plugging the address into the gps on his phone. “C’mon, Jean, we gotta hurry up or we’ll be late!”

“Coming,” he said, as he pushed off of the wall he was leaning on. He and John walked out to the car and got it started up, and headed out to the house, which was only about five minutes away.

“So John, are you excited for your first delivery?” Jean asked, trying to start some small talk in hopes that it would spark a conversation.

“Hell yeah, I’ve been waiting for this day for like, three weeks. I was so stoked when Dave told me there was a job opening.” John replied eagerly. Jean was really glad that he hadn’t hurt John enough to dampen his generally excitable nature. “So how long have you been working here anyway?” asked John.

“I started working here right after it opened almost, so, about three months ago.”

“That’s cool… So Jean, I was wondering, and it’s only fair if I ask you too… Do _you_ have a girlfriend or anything?”

Jean’s heart stopped. He could feel his face flush with embarrassment and his eyes began to well up with tears. “John, I’m…”

“Are you okay? I didn’t mean to-”

“John, I’m gay!” Jean shouted. He didn’t mean to shout. He didn’t even mean to tell him, but he couldn’t help it. It was the only thing that came to mind, even after years of coming up with excuses to cover for it, that was the only thing he could think of at the moment. “I’m sorry, I just…”’

“Hey, it’s okay dude, I’m not homo-racist or anything.” John said, trying to console him. “I won’t tell anyone if you want me to keep it a secret.”

Jean wiped his face on his sleeve. “Thank you, it really… It really means a lot to me, and you’re the only one at work who knows now, and I just didn’t think it would ever be important.”

“It’s no problem, alright dude? I’ll keep it quiet.” John gave Jean a small wink and a nod. “Now you should get the pizzas out of the back, because we’re almost there.”

Jean suddenly realized that, in the midst of his breaking down, they had arrived on the street of the house, and were just pulling into the driveway. He got out of the car, wiped his face on his sleeve once more, opened the back door to the car, and lifted the food out. Before he walked up to the house though, he leaned in the window of the car and said, “Thanks, John.” one more time.

Jean walked down the driveway and up to the door, rested the pizzas on his left shoulder for a moment, and rang the doorbell. It was a few moments before the door was answered by a guy just a little bigger than Jean. He had short black hair and amber colored eyes, and a bunch of dark freckles on his cheeks. Jean handed him the food and fumbled through the insulated bag for the receipt. _Shit, not this again_ , he thought to himself. _Dammit Jean, he’s cute, don’t mess this up._ Just then, he spotted the receipt on the ground, picked it up, and handed it to the cute boy.

“Thanks for the pizzas, oh, excuse me for a minute.” He said, as he disappeared into the house. Jean stood waiting at the door, twiddling his thumbs until his customer reappeared at the door again.

“Here’s a small tip,” he said, handing Jean two five dollar bills and the receipt. “and again, thank you!”

“It’s no problem.” said Jean, as he departed with a wave. He had to stop getting so clumsy and flustered, but he couldn’t help it that he got distracted sometimes. Jean made his way back to the car, opened the door, and climbed inside.

“Hey John, you keep this.” Jean handed one of the two fives to him. “You earned it too.”

“Thanks, man!” John responded. “My first tip, heh.”

“It’s the least I could do,” Jean insisted calmly. _After all, you are keeping one of my biggest secrets, it really is the least I could do._

“Hey, wait, what’s that written on the receipt?” John inquired.

“Huh?, oh, that?” Jean picked up the receipt and scanned down to the bottom line, where he saw written in messy handwriting: “209-244-3420, Marco Bodt, Call Me ;)”

Jean’s face turned beet red.


	4. Party Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave and Karkat plan a party while John and Jean are out.

While John and Jean were off making the first delivery of the day, the rest of the crew hung back at the restaurant. Terezi and Nepeta hung out in the kitchen while Dave and Karkat were lounging around towards the front of the restaurant. Even though they annoyed each other sometimes, they still had a pretty good friendship.

“So Karkat, tell me, how is it that you’ve got these two girls, both of them about equally hot, they’re best friends, and one of them is like, obsessed with you, and yet you’re still chasing after the other one who won’t even give you the time of day, like, that’s like someone gives you a free ice cream cone, and it’s got like, sprinkles and shit, but you refuse to eat that ice cream cone just because this other ice cream cone has like two more sprinkles than yours, like, what’s the deal man?” Dave asked Karkat. He was tired of hearing Karkat drone on and on about his emotional issues and he wanted to help a brother out.

“Dave I don’t know how many times I’m going to have to tell you to STOP USING THE ICE CREAM METAPHOR IT BARELY MAKES SENSE.” Karkat replied exasperatedly.

“No, but, so, now you’ve got these two ice cream cones, and you like this one more than the other, and you’re hurting the one you already got’s feelings yo, and that ice cream cone’s undoubtedly gonna talk to all of its ice cream cone buddies, and now you’ve got all of these other ice cream cones that think you’re an asshole because you won’t eat this poor, innocent ice cream cone that would do anything for you, what’s the deal with that?”

“Look, Dave. You can’t just simplify it like that, okay? We’re talking about real people here with real emotions, not ice cream emotions. Ice cream has only one emotion Dave, and it’s melting. And who I choose to eat- I mean date, or not, is my choice. I can’t help it that I like Terezi, she’s just, Nepeta just isn’t the same, but it’s not about one of them being better than the other, it’s about what I want.”

“I get that, I get it dude, but just think, like, what if your whole life you’ve only ever wanted vanilla ice cream, right? Nothin’ wrong with that, but then all of a sudden someone offers you some chocolate ice cream and then like, you just flip out, because you’ve never had chocolate ice cream and it’s just not the same as vanilla, but you never know, you might like chocolate if you tried it?”

“I get it Dave, you want to set me up with Nepeta so that I’ll stop complaining to you.” Dave began to sweat nervously. He didn’t want to offend Karkat, but he wanted the guy to be happy and Dave felt like Karkat should at least give Nepeta a chance.

“That’s not it, I swear, alright? I just want you to be happy dude, and maybe you’d like her if you just dated her for a little while.”

Karkat sighed. He had been in this situation for a while now, and it just seemed like the closer Terezi and Nepeta got, the more Nepeta liked him and the more Terezi tried to push it too, and now Dave?

“Hey, I got an idea. What if instead of asking her out on a date or something, we throw a party, both of us, and we invite everyone, and maybe they can bring some guests too, and we’ll have a good time and maybe you can get to know Nepeta a bit better.”

A small smile crept onto Karkat’s lips. He liked the idea, and although he wasn’t going to admit that, he still told Dave that he’d go along with it, and they discussed further plans for the party and such..

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, Nepeta and Terezi were talking amongst themselves. Nepeta was planning on taking a backpacking trip later in the summer. Both of the girls were rising Juniors in high school, so they knew that they had a long year of school ahead of them, so Nepeta wanted to take a trip away from all of the hustle and bustle of the west coast and visit a lot of placed around Europe before she got tied down with school again.

“So, where are you planning on going, to start out with?” Terezi inquired.

“My initial plan is to fly out to Spain and then make a trip across the continent and end up in Poland, but I’m gonna play it by ear when I get there and just see how it goes.”

“It sure sounds like fun, is Equius actually okay with it?”

“He’s a bit so-so about it and he begged me to let him come with me but I told him that I needed to do it by myself, I mean, he’s really great, but he’s just kind of overbearing sometimes and I want to do stuff by myself for once.” Nepeta’s face lit up. Terezi could tell that she was a lot more proud of herself than she thought she should show. “I’m not judging by his approval or anything.”

“Hell yeah girl!” Terezi shouted, and gave her a hi-five. “If I had to deal with him all of the time I would have taken a trip to Europe and never came back.”

“I can see why you’d say that, but you should honestly give him a chance.” Nepeta scratched her ear. She knew that Terezi wasn’t really keen on her relationship with Equius but there was really nothing she could do about it other than prevent it from getting between them as friends

“He’s a really nice guy, even though he doesn’t really show it a lot of the time.” As Nepeta was speaking, Karkat walked by, on his way to the restroom, and they were just close enough for him to hear those last few words. He rushed quickly into the men’s bathroom, and splashed water on his face. _I’m not dreaming, am I?_ The words were spinning through his head, _“He’s a really nice guy,”_ and, _“You should give him a chance.”_ He was less afraid of it being a dream than he was of it being some kind of strange and convoluted nightmare.

He read the “Employees must wash hands” sign a few times, just to make sure he was really awake. He was awake, and he almost fainted at the thought of what was happening. The girl who had had a crush on him for months, talking him up to the girl he had been pining after for the same amount of time. It was too good to be true, which meant that it had to be some kind of trick.

“I wonder what that was all about.” Nepeta stated. Karkat had seemed more urgent than usual, even a bit frazzled.

Terezi dismissed it. “Probably just boy stuff, you know. Anyways, as I was saying, it  sounds like it’s gonna be a really fun trip.”

“Yeah, I’m really excited, but I’m gonna miss all of you guys.” Nepeta looked down at the floor and started twiddling her thumbs. Terezi could tell that Nepeta was going to have a hard time separating herself completely from her friends for that long of a period of time; and no matter how much disdain she held for Equius, she still knew that the two were extremely good friends and Nepeta needed someone like him in her life.

_I can’t ask Nepeta to go to the party with me,_ thought Karkat. _Not after that,_ but he couldn’t ask Terezi either, on the chance that it was just a big joke being played on him; but he and Dave had already made an agreement that he’d ask Nepeta to go with him, and there was no going back on that, they had fist bumped on it. Karkat splashed water on his face again, dried his face off with a paper towel, and walked out of the restroom nervously. He had to ask Nepeta, no matter how little he wanted to now, and who knows, maybe Dave was right. Karkat strolled up to the counter and leaned over, bracing himself with his arms on the counter, and called out, “Hey Nep!” while beckoning for her to come towards him. She and Terezi both walked over together, and Nepeta asked him what he needed.

Karkat started sweating profusely. He had no idea what to say next, he was just surprised he had made it this far. “Well, I was just wondering, because, see, uh, me and Dave are throwing a party this weekend.”

“And?” Nepeta asked expectantly.

“And, well, I was just wondering if, maybe if you don’t have plans that day, if you wanted to come to it? The party, with me?”

Nepeta blushed dark red and quickly glanced away from him. His words weren’t exactly making sense but she knew what he meant. ‘I’d love t-to, but, I’ll think about it!” She exclaimed, and quickly dodged into the back corner of the kitchen. Terezi gave him a glare, let out an exasperated sigh, and made her way to the back of the kitchen with Nepeta.

At that moment, Dave walked up behind Karkat, put his hand on his friend’s shoulder, and said: “Dude, you broke her.”

“Shut up Dave.” Karkat muttered as he shrugged Dave’s hand off. “Listen, I need to talk to you.”

Karkat explained to Dave what he had overheard. Dave was glad that Karkat had told him about it instead of doing something regrettable, and he had kept his word. Karkat had always been a dependable guy, but Dave started to feel like he could trust him even more. He gave Karkat a short hug, and before he had the chance to say anything, John and Jean walked through the door.

John was the first to say anything, as he usually was. “Hey guys!” He exclaimed. “Any more deliveries for us?”

“Sadly, no.” Replied Karkat.

“But, while you were gone,” Dave explained, “we decided that this weekend, at my apartment, we’re gonna throw the biggest party six dudes can throw, and you can feel free to bring anyone else along.” He finished with a wink, and Jean’s face turned red again immediately. He knew who he wanted to bring, but he didn’t have any idea how he was going to explain it, especially if anything happened between them. He was going to have to come out at work, and who knew how tough that would be.

“Ah sweet!” John shouted. “It’ll be just like that party we had that one time, remember that Dave?”

Dave knew exactly what John was talking about, and they both said “Ayyy.” and did a strange and intricate secret handshake thing. Jean just shook his head and cradled it in his palm.

“So when’s the party going to be?” Jean inquired.

“Me and Karkat were thinking about tomorrow night, if that’s good for everyone.”

“That works for me.” Said John.

“That should work for me, but I’ll have to check.” Jean stated. He would have to see if his possible date would be available.

Dave glanced at Karkat, who told him that he’d ask Nepeta and Terezi later. The plans had been made, everything was set, and now all they had to do was wait, except for Jean, who had to figure out how he was going to come out to everybody before the end of the day, and he knew that wasn’t going to be fun.

 

Nepeta was sitting against the back wall of the staff room crying. She had been asked to go on, basically a date, right? With Karkat no less, and yet, she knew something had to be wrong. It had to be some kind of cruel trick or something, there was no way he was serious. After all, it was too good to be true.

“Hey, Nep, it’s okay.” Terezi said calmly. “I don’t think Karkat would lie to you, or to any of us for that matter.”

Nepeta sniffled, “But Terezi you don’t understand, this is Karkat…”

“Yeah?”

“Look, I’ve… I need to tell you this… I’ve liked him for like, months, and I just, I don’t believe this, because I always just figured he would never like me back, and I was sort of okay with that, you know? Because even if he never liked me back, we could still be friends and I could still talk to him and stuff and now, it’s like, he’s asking me on a date, and I just don’t think I’m ready, especially not with him.”

Terezi scooted closer to Nepeta and began to rub her back. “Maybe just don’t think of it as a date?” She suggested, “Or you could just tell him that you’d rather go as just friends.”

Nepeta was curled up in fetal position, head between her knees. She didn’t want to have to talk to Karkat about it, because, even if she wasn’t ready at the moment, she did really like Karkat, and she didn’t want to miss her chance with him, because this was possibly the only one she would get.


End file.
